Wilson: Child care for the selfish few?

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Many thanks to the Summit Daily News for its Feb. 27 report exposing Breckenridge's desire to raise taxes yet again. Today's excuse is that we must raise taxes to pay for a family's child care bill. I don't think that the mayor and council should add more taxes to Breckenridge homeowners and visitors to pay the household child care bills of a greedy few. We all know having kids and raising them is expensive. Responsible parents across Summit County take this into consideration in deciding when and how many children to have. Normal expenses often do include the cost of child care, not to mention that first bike, braces for their teeth, Christmas gifts, prom dresses, and college tuition. Breckenridge town government should not respond to the cries of a selfish few that want other people taxed to pay for part of their own household bills. We should not addict our young families to a local government dole. No doubt the local free money mongers will package their pitch into a "let's put children first" pile of happy crappy. Don't be fooled. Responsible Summit parents are already putting their children first every day; without taking money from their neighbors. We do not need to plow more public tax collections into a child care program that already has a 25 percent vacancy rate despite giving nearly half the money away to parents who don't even live in Breckenridge.

Speaking frankly (but with tongue in cheek) I think the only new local tax that should be instituted is a major tax on dental services. Let's face it, no man should profit from dental problems of another. Breckenridge can and should tax such services and distribute the money to those that want to buy more things than they could otherwise afford. I am proposing here that gold crowns performed within the town limits of Breckenridge should be taxed a rate of 50 percent, with fillings taxed at a lower rate of 25 percent. I am sure our progressive mayor, as a dentist himself, will support such a measure.